Meeting Agenda: ABC Home - Discovery Kickoff

Date: Monday, December 2, 2025
Duration: 4 hours (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM)
Attendees: Bo, Steven, Uttam Kumaran (Brainforge)

Meeting Overview

This kickoff session launches the 4-week ABC Growth Discovery engagement. Our goal is to map your current state across Awareness, Conversion, and Retention/Resurrection, identify the top 2-3 highest-ROI growth opportunities, and prepare for Les’s knowledge transfer before March 2026.

Meeting Flow (4 hours)

Block 1: Vision & Strategic Context (60 min)

Company vision and growth objectives
Current challenges and competitive landscape
Success metrics for this engagement

Break (10 min)

Block 2: Business Operations & Lifecycle Deep Dive (90 min)

Customer journey walkthrough (Awareness → Conversion → Retention)
Marketing channels and attribution
Sales/booking process and systems

Lunch Break (20 min)

Block 3: Data Sources, Systems & Owners (60 min)

Complete data source inventory
System architecture and integrations
Data ownership RACI mapping

Block 4: Next Steps & Meeting Planning (20 min)

Shadow meeting schedule
Access and credentials roadmap
Week 1 priorities

Block 1: Vision & Strategic Context (60 min)

Meeting Objectives

Understand ABC’s 3-5 year vision and growth aspirations
Clarify competitive positioning and market dynamics
Define success metrics for this discovery engagement
Understand organizational structure and decision-making

Questions

Company Vision & Strategy

What’s your vision for ABC in the next 3-5 years?
- Revenue targets: Currently growing at 2-3% (frustrating/not satisfactory for this market)
- Market expansion plans: Evaluating new satellite offices, potential expansion
- Service line evolution: Currently paused on new services (trash bin cleaning and garage door most recent additions)
- Focus: Want to break through growth plateau and reach next level
What does success look like for this discovery project?
- Primary Goal: Increase lead volume - “more at bats” to put into the funnel
- Secondary Goal: Improve conversion funnel efficiency (website, booking flow)
- Strategic Questions:
  - Where are new customers actually coming from? (attribution is murky)
  - Which marketing channels are truly working vs. not working?
  - How to compete against PE-backed competitors with “unlimited” marketing budgets
  - What’s the path to sustainable growth beyond 2-3%?
- Les transition: Need to capture institutional marketing knowledge before March 2026 retirement
Walk me through ABC’s current position:
- Total annual revenue: ~ $170 M es t ima t e d (A u s t in :$ 110M, San Antonio: $30 M, C o l l e g e S t a t i o n :$ 10M, Corpus: $10 M, S ma l l er ma r k e t s :$ 10M combined)
- Geographic footprint:
  - Austin (largest, ~110M) - 40/person penetration
  - San Antonio (started 2017, ~30M) - Started with pest/lawn, growing since
  - College Station (~10M) - Low on all services except pest and lawn
  - Corpus Christi (~10M) - Pest and lawn focus
  - Smaller markets (~10M combined): Belle Country, Rio Grande Valley, Waco, Marble Falls, Georgetown, Bastrop
- Service mix: 17 services total
  - Biggest: Pest, HVAC, Plumbing, Lawn
  - Newest/Experimental: Trash bin cleaning (paused growth), Appliance Repair, Garage Door
  - Retired: Water quality (5-6 years ago)
- Customer mix: 80% residential, 20% commercial
  - Commercial goal: Want to grow commercial bundling
  - Commercial services ready: Pest, Lawn getting to scale for commercial
  - Commercial pricing: Time in Motion based
  - Commercial types: Multifamily, Hospital, Hotel, Kitchen
  - Contract sizes: $5-30K/year typically
  - Sales cycle: 1-6 month close time (longer than residential)
  - Marketing budget: $0 dedicated to commercial (opportunity)
- Call volume: 80K+ calls per month (best signal for sales performance)
- Pricing strategy: Generally higher-priced across services
  - Pushback on: A/C, Mechanical, Handyman (noted)
What’s your competitive landscape?
- Main competitors: PE-backed home service companies (dominant concern)
- PE-backed advantage: “Pretty much unlimited funds to grow the business” - can outspend ABC on marketing
- ABC competitive advantages:
  - Service quality: High retention rate, excellent delivery
  - Multi-service capability: 17 services vs. competitors’ 1-3 services
  - Geographic presence: 600+ trucks as “mobile billboards”
  - Brand awareness: Strong in Austin market
  - Customer satisfaction: Very high retention, part company on good terms
- Market share concerns:
  - Struggling to “raise above endless pockets” in paid channels
  - Worry about being outbid in search/digital advertising
  - Some services (plumbing, landscaping) have “hit a ceiling” despite quality

Current Business Challenges

What’s keeping you up at night?
- #1 Issue: Phone isn’t ringing as much - “fewer leads” = stagnant growth
- Growth plateau: 2-3% growth is “not satisfactory” - need to break through
- PE competition: Competitors with unlimited marketing budgets
- Les retirement: March 2026 - institutional knowledge transfer urgency
- Attribution blindness: “Don’t really know what’s working” in marketing spend
- Service performance variance: Some services doing well, others stagnated (e.g., plumbing, landscaping)
Where do you feel “blind” in your business today?
- Marketing ROI: “I don’t know that we’ve got a really good analysis of what’s working”
- Attribution: Can’t reliably answer “where are leads coming from?” - “How did you hear about us?” data is unreliable
- Channel performance: Don’t know which channels to cut, which to double down on
- Conversion funnel: Unclear where drop-offs happen (website, call center, booking process)
- Search presence: “Do we show up for electrical? for smaller services?” - Visibility concerns
- ChatGPT/AI search: “Almost afraid” to search “who’s best pest control in Austin” - unknown positioning
What questions can’t you answer today that you wish you could?
- Attribution: Which marketing channels actually drive bookings? (not just calls)
- True channel ROI: Spending more in a growing market but getting less - why?
- Conversion rates by channel: Which channels convert best? By service?
- Customer acquisition cost: True CAC by channel, by service
- Win-back potential: “Gazillions of canceled customers” - how to resurrect?
- Cross-sell effectiveness: Who buys multiple services? What triggers it?
- Search visibility: Where do we NOT show up that we should?
- New channels: Should we be on TikTok? Social? What’s the ROI?

Organizational Context

Walk me through your organizational structure:
- Marketing Owner: Les (retiring March 2026) - has graphic designer on team
- Sales/CSR operations:
  - Yvette Ruiz (CSR Team Lead mentioned in meetings)
  - Bo Jenkins (involved in sales strategy)
- Data/Analytics: Currently limited - Les tracks some analytics
- IT/Systems: Julie (IT) - mentioned as key contact
- Key stakeholders to interview:
  - Les (CMO - PRIORITY)
  - Nitesh
  - Whitney
  - Julie (IT)
  - David Lopez (has KPI sheet)
How are growth decisions typically made?
- Budgeting: Yearly budgeting process
- Forecasting: CSR team forecasting 10% growth targets
- Rule of 21: Revenue + Profit = 21 (internal benchmark)
- Marketing budget: ~4% of revenue allocated to marketing overall
- Data-driven? Limited - Les tracks some analytics, but “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”
- Approval process: Not clearly defined - seems top-down from Bo/Steven
- Current frustration: “I don’t know that one person can do all of this anymore” - Les handled everything
Les’s retirement timeline - what’s the succession plan?
- Timeline: March 2026 (4 months away!)
- Succession plan: UNCLEAR - actively figuring this out
- Strategic question: “I don’t know that it makes sense to hire just one person to replace Les”
- Institutional knowledge at risk:
  - Channel strategy and history (“Les knows what’s worked especially in last 5-10 years”)
  - Vendor relationships (Monkey Boy, agencies, etc.)
  - Analytics and reporting processes
  - Marketing mix decisions and rationale
- Les’s availability: Need to schedule half-day to full-day knowledge transfer sessions
- Consideration: May need to split role - in-house + agency partnerships vs. single replacement
- Channel expertise gaps: One person can’t master TV, radio, search, social, content, etc.

Block 2: Business Operations & Customer Lifecycle (90 min)

Meeting Objectives

Map the complete customer journey from awareness to retention
Understand marketing channel mix and performance
Document sales/booking process and conversion funnel
Identify pain points and friction across the lifecycle

Demos/Walkthroughs Requested

Marketing channel overview
- Current marketing mix (digital, traditional, referral)
- Budget allocation by channel
- How performance is currently tracked
Website/booking flow walkthrough
- Show me how a customer books a service today
- Mobile vs. desktop experience
- Service selection and pricing display
- Checkout/scheduling process
Call center operation overview
- How incoming calls are routed (80K+/month)
- CSR scripts and processes
- How leads are captured and tracked
- Integration with Andi (our existing AI chat platform)
Current reporting dashboards
- What reports do you look at daily/weekly/monthly?
- Where do these reports come from?
- What do you trust vs. not trust?

Questions

Awareness & Lead Generation

Walk me through your current marketing channels:
- Digital:
  - Google PPC (Google Ads account active)
  - SEO (robust blog, feeding Google well)
  - OTT (Over-The-Top streaming ads)
  - Display advertising
  - Partner: Nextstar (mentioned)
- Traditional:
  - TV (significant spend historically)
  - Radio (significant spend)
  - Billboards (Austin market)
  - Direct mail
  - “600+ trucks” as mobile billboards in neighborhoods
- Referral & Partnerships:
  - Customer referral programs
  - Costco partnership (Austin, College Station, San Antonio)
    - Lennox HVAC, Water Softener offerings
    - Customer journey: “go online and buy Costco HVAC” → ABC fulfills
    - Don’t have to “give” discount (Costco handles)
  - Lowe’s/Home Depot partnerships
  - Leadline (internal): ~2,500 leads/month
    - Internal referral between service teams
    - Technician spots opportunity, submits lead, gets paid
    - Example: Pest tech sees tree branches → tree trimming lead
  - Commercial Sales Manager: Dedicated role for B2B pipeline
- Social:
  - “Starting to do some social advertising”
  - “Somewhat creative posts” (recent addition, effectiveness unknown)
  - Question: Should ABC be on TikTok for certain services? (porch decorating example - missed opportunity)
- Budget: ~4% of revenue overall to marketing
- Budget concern: “Robust, but not crazy” - competing against PE unlimited budgets
- Performance metrics: Limited visibility - “don’t really know what’s working”
How do you currently track “How did you hear about us?”
- Current method: Asked on calls - “How did you hear about us?”
- Reliability: Poor/unreliable - “They’re like ‘I’ve always known about ABC’” (doesn’t identify trigger)
- Data capture: CSRs input into system, but not standardized
- Problem: Not capturing “What made you call us TODAY?” (intent trigger)
- Opportunity: AI analysis of call transcripts could extract true attribution
- Promo codes: Not mentioned as systematic approach
- Call tracking: Call Source system mentioned (records/transcribes calls)
SEO & Local Search:
- Ranking concerns: “I worry that for smaller services (electrical, etc.) you don’t find us. Larry’s company shows up and he’s a fraction of our size”
- Content strength: “Robust blog” - doing well feeding Google
- Local strategy: Presence across multiple Texas markets, but penetration varies
- Google Business Profile: Not explicitly discussed
- Competitor analysis: Unclear/ad hoc
- ChatGPT presence: “Almost afraid to ask ChatGPT ‘who’s the best pest control in Austin’” - unknown positioning
- Opportunity: Free leads from ChatGPT/AI search not yet saturated in home services
Paid Advertising:
- Management: Les manages with agency partners
- Agencies:
  - Monkey Boy (website, landing pages, analytics)
  - Travis’s company (mentioned as relationship)
  - Other agencies for PPC, SEO, creative
- Budget targets: No specific ROAS mentioned
- Concern: “Spending more in a growing market, getting less out of it”
- Landing pages: Monkey Boy handles
- Call tracking: Call Source system in place
Content & Organic:
- Blog: “Robust blog” - actively maintained
- Video: Not heavily discussed
- Social media: Just starting to invest more
- Organic vs. paid split: Not clearly tracked
- Strength: “A lot of things working behind the scenes that aren’t sexy but are working”
What’s your biggest challenge with lead generation?
- #1: Volume decline - “Phone doesn’t ring as much as it has previously” = fewer leads
- Attribution confusion: “Don’t really know what’s working” - can’t confidently cut or double down
- Competitive pressure: PE-backed competitors outspending in paid channels
- Scaling issues: Some channels can’t scale (saturated?) vs. unknown opportunity channels
- Search visibility gaps: Small/new services not showing up in search
- Channel complexity: 17 services × multiple markets × multiple channels = “so complicated now”
- ROI uncertainty: Spending more, getting less - which channels are the culprit?

Conversion & Booking

Walk me through the customer journey from initial interest to booked job:
- Phone calls (Primary channel):
  - 80K+ calls/month
  - Call volume is “best signal for sales”
  - High conversion when inspector gets on doorstep
- Website “Click to Buy”:
  - EXISTS but limited adoption
  - Can book specific services without talking to anyone
  - Can schedule and pay online
  - Concern: “Takes too long” - lots of abandoned carts
  - Worry: “Do they really understand what they’re buying?” for services vs. products
- Other channels:
  - Chat (Andi) - exists, sales increasing
  - Text - abandoned cart follow-up mentioned
  - After-hours - considering phantom scheduling or AI handling
Phone/Call Center Process:
- CSR count: Not specified (large team handling 80K+ calls/month)
- Scripts: Standardized (CSRs follow processes)
- Scheduling system: Not specified in detail
- Conversion: “When we put a sales inspector on the doorstep, we do a good job. We really do.”
- What causes non-conversion: Not systematically tracked
- Opportunity: AI call analysis could identify patterns, coaching opportunities, conversion friction
Website Conversion:
- Drop-off points: Tracking “abandoned cart” - “a lot of people on there multiple times, back out”
- Complexity: 17 services + multiple markets = navigation challenge
- Monkey Boy platform: Handles website development
- Pricing display: Question on whether pricing shown upfront or after form fill
- “Click to Buy” issues:
  - “Takes too long” (Bobby’s concern)
  - People start, abandon, come back, abandon again
  - Not clear if it’s friction or comparison shopping
- Mobile vs. desktop: Not tracked/discussed
- A/B testing: Not mentioned - likely not systematic
- Different flows: Commercial vs. residential have different journeys
Lead-to-Booking Benchmarks:
- Overall conversion: ~70% conversion rate (mentioned in notes)
- Variance by service: “Holiday lights is low”
- Critical question: “Do we have capacity to take on new business?” (conversion tied to capacity)
- Inspector conversion: High when sales inspector is on doorstep
- Click to Buy conversion: Lower, but not quantified
- Industry benchmarks: “No industry benchmarks from service industry” - flying blind
- Improvement: “Converting even better than we did before” but still need more volume
What’s your biggest conversion challenge?
- Website UX: Click to Buy flow “takes too long” - abandoned carts
- Service complexity: 17 services + multiple markets = navigation/selection challenges
- Pricing transparency: Unclear if prices shown upfront clearly enough
- Capacity constraints: If phones are ringing but can’t handle volume, conversion limited
- Cross-channel optimization: Different experiences (phone, web, chat, text) not optimized as system
- Commercial vs. Residential: Different flows not optimized separately
- Speed to conversion: “People want to buy quickly” - any friction = loss

Service Delivery & First Impression

After booking, what happens?
- Click to Buy flow:
  - Once sold online → Email sent to office staff
  - Office coordinates service delivery
- Phone/Inspector flow (Residential):
  - Inspector comes out for bid
  - Can do everything except landscaping on-site
  - Goes over bid with customer
  - Collects payment or schedules payment
  - Sales person sends to office
  - Office emails customer on service details
- Confirmation: Email confirmation process
- Reminder communications: Not detailed, but Front system mentioned for text
- Show-up rates: Not discussed
- Commission incentives:
  - Better commission on maintenance/recurring services
  - Drives salespeople to sell subscriptions vs. one-time
  - Example: Mosquito + Lawn add-on bundles incentivized

Inspector Sales Process (Residential):

Inspector visits property
Bid put together on-site (can do everything except landscaping)
Reviews with customer
Collects payment or schedules payment
Sales person sends paperwork to office
Office emails customer service details and scheduling

Marketing Schedule Examples:

Estimate marketing schedules exist
Seasonal campaigns (noted but not detailed)

How do you measure first-job quality?
- Customer satisfaction: Not detailed - but retention rates suggest high satisfaction
- Retention as proxy: “Our retention is very, very high” = quality indicator
- Callbacks/rework: Not systematically discussed
- Issue: “Very seldom part company with customer with bad taste” - resolve issues proactively
- Opportunity: AI call analysis could extract service quality feedback from calls

Retention & Customer Lifecycle

What does the customer lifecycle look like?
- Retention rate: “Very, very high” - consistently high
- Multi-service goal: “Holy Grail is not to do one service - it’s to do 5, 6, 7 services”
- Pattern: “Customers that have multiple services are less likely to cancel”
- Single service risk: Most likely to churn
- Subscription/recurring: Better commission on maintenance/recurring services
- Commission structure: Incentivizes recurring vs. one-time
- Examples: Mosquito + Lawn add-on bundles exist
- Contract values:
  - Pest alone: $500-600/year typical
  - ABC multi-service potential: Much higher LTV
Loyalty/Rewards Program:
- Program exists: Customer rewards program is in place
- Problem: “Done a lousy job of making customers aware of it” (Yvette quote)
- Owner: Julie owns rewards program
- Enrollment/engagement: Not measured or shared
- Impact: Unknown - underutilized asset
- Opportunity: Major quick win to promote/optimize existing program
Customer Communication Strategy:
- Email marketing:
  - “Very aggressive email campaign to existing customers”
  - Informing about other services
  - Platform: GreenRope (email marketing/automation)
- Text/SMS:
  - Front system for text
  - Abandoned cart text follow-up exists
- Seasonal reminders: Not detailed
- Cross-sell approach:
  - Email campaigns highlighting other services
  - “Lead Line” program: Technician referrals (e.g., pest tech sees tree branches, turns in lead, gets paid)
  - Inspector on-site bundling (primary method)
  - “Done a pretty good job” with lead line program
Customer Churn:
- Cancellation volume: “A lot of cancellations” but retention rate still high (large base = large absolute numbers)
- Churn % by year: Not specified
- Why customers leave:
  - Majority: “I just don’t need it anymore” / “Moving” / Life changes
  - Good terms: “Very, very seldom part company with bad taste”
  - Bad experience: Rare - “move heaven and earth” to resolve issues
- Segmentation needed:
  - In-state vs. out-of-state moves
  - Service type
  - Reason for cancellation
  - Recency, value
- Single vs. multi-service: Single service customers cancel much more
- Database: “Gazillions of canceled customers” sitting unused

Resurrection & Win-Back

Tell me about your cancelled customer database:
- Size: “Gazillions of canceled customers” (exact number not specified - likely tens of thousands+)
- Terms of departure: Majority on good terms - “very seldom part with bad taste”
- Segmentation: NOT systematically done - Major opportunity
  - Need: Service type, reason, recency, value, in-state vs. out-of-state moves
  - Started to check bundles a few years back (limited)
- Previous win-back attempts:
  - “Welcome Back” campaign concept - “I don’t think we ever really got the lift out of it”
  - Never systematically executed
  - No measured results to learn from
- Also: “Gazillion emails of people we used to do business with that we don’t currently do”
- Plus: Leads that called but never converted (know exactly what was bid)
What would a successful win-back campaign look like?
- Target audience (proposed):
  - Canceled on good terms (moved, life change, “don’t need it anymore”)
  - Previously single-service customers (high risk, but also high upsell potential)
  - Specific service types (pest most likely to re-engage)
- Offer strategy (ideas discussed):
  - Bundle incentives (what they did + 2 other services)
  - “Come back and try us again” messaging
  - Highlight new services they didn’t know about
- Channel mix: Email primary, could add targeted calls, text
- Success metrics: Not defined yet - need to establish baseline
- AI opportunity: Outbound calls via AI (discussed with Avoca integration)
Cross-sell opportunities:
- Goal: “Holy Grail is to do 5, 6, 7 services for a customer” (not just one)
- Current effectiveness: Sales team “done a really good job” with bundling
- Inspector success: High - can sell multiple services when on-site
- Common bundles:
  - Mosquito + Lawn add-on
  - Pest + HVAC (likely)
  - Pest + Plumbing (likely)
- Identification methods:
  - Lead Line program: Technicians spot opportunities during service (tree branches on roof → tree trimming lead)
  - Inspector assessment during initial visit
  - Email campaigns to existing customers
- 2024 focus: “Big drive this year is to bundle services and incentive homeowner to buy 2-3 things”
- Gap: “Customers still don’t know all the services” despite efforts
- Data gap: “Started to check bundles a few years back” but not comprehensive bundle tracking

Block 3: Data Sources, Systems & Ownership (60 min)

Meeting Objectives

Create complete inventory of all data sources
Document system architecture and integrations
Identify data owners and access requirements
Understand current data flows and reporting processes

Questions

Systems Inventory

Walk me through every system that touches customer data:

Website & E-commerce: (Owned by Monkey Boy)

Website platform: Monkey Boy (vendor/agency)
Booking/scheduling: Click to Buy system (integrated into website)
Payment processing: Integrated with Click to Buy
Forms and lead capture: Website forms → Monkey Boy platform
Chat systems: Andi (Brainforge) - active, sales increasing
Other chat tools? TBD

Marketing & Advertising: (Owned by Les + Graphic Designer)

Google Ads: Active account
Meta/Facebook Ads: Active (recently increased social spend)
SEO tools: Not specified (but “robust blog” maintained)
Email marketing platform: GreenRope - automation + campaigns
Marketing automation: GreenRope handles
Call tracking system: Call Source (recordings + transcripts + metadata)
OTT advertising: Active
Traditional: TV, radio, billboard buys (Les manages)

Sales & Operations:

CRM system: Not clearly specified - need to identify
Call center software: Call Source (80K+ calls/month tracked)
Scheduling/dispatch: Evolve (scheduling/dispatch)
Field service management: Evolve (FSM)
Technician mobile app: Likely Evolve mobile - confirm
Sales system: Dream (sales team)

Finance & Accounting:

Accounting system: Sage
Billing system: Evolve
Payment processing: Integrated (confirm vendor)

Customer Service:

Customer support ticketing: Not specified - may be ad hoc
Review management: Not specified
Survey tools: Not specified
Rewards program: System exists (Julie owns) - platform TBD

Data & Analytics:

Google Analytics: Active (Monkey Boy + Les track)
Business intelligence tools: None mentioned
Dashboards: Google Sheets, Excel (Les creates) - manual
Data warehouse: None - opportunity

AI & Brainforge Tools:

Andi chat platform: Active, sales increasing, integrated
Knowledge base: Likely tied to Andi
Call analysis AI: Opportunity - discussed for Call Source transcripts
Outbound AI: Discussed Avoca integration for win-back calls

Key Integrations Needed to Understand:

Evolve ↔ Sage (billing to accounting)
Call Source ↔ Evolve (call to booking)
Monkey Boy website ↔ Evolve (online booking to scheduling)
GreenRope ↔ Evolve (email to customer data)
Dream ↔ Evolve (sales to operations)

For each system above:
- Who owns it? (admin access, primary user)
- Who pays for it? (budget owner)
- When was it implemented?
- How critical is it? (1-10)
- API available? Documentation?
- Data export capabilities?
- Integration with other systems?

Data Flows & Reporting

Walk me through your current reporting process:
- Who creates reports?
- How often? (daily, weekly, monthly)
- What tools are used? (Excel, Google Sheets, BI tools)
- How much manual work is involved?
- Who consumes these reports?
What reports exist today?
- Marketing performance reports?
- Sales/conversion reports?
- Customer retention reports?
- Financial reports?
- Operational reports?
- Executive dashboards?
Where is data currently stored?
- Individual systems only?
- Any centralized database or warehouse?
- Spreadsheets? Where? Who maintains?
- Google Drive, SharePoint, etc.?
How is data currently moved between systems?
- Manual exports/imports?
- Automated integrations?
- ETL tools?
- Zapier/Make workflows?
What are the biggest data quality issues?
- Missing data?
- Duplicate records?
- Inconsistent definitions?
- Systems out of sync?
- Manual entry errors?

Call Data & Transcripts (Critical for ABC)

Tell me about your 80K+ monthly calls:
- Recording system: Call Source (vendor)
- Transcription: YES - all calls transcribed (Call Source provides)
- Retention period: Need to confirm with Call Source
- Historical access: YES - transcripts available (Brainforge can access)
- Metadata captured:
  - Call volume (80K+/month is tracked)
  - Duration (available)
  - Source attribution (asked on call, inputted by CSR)
  - Outcome/disposition (booked vs. not - need to confirm fields)
- Volume significance: “Call volume is the best signal for sales”
What call data exists today?
- Volume tracking: Yes - by month (80K+ baseline)
- Time/day patterns: Likely in Call Source - not actively analyzed
- Source attribution: Captured (but unreliable - “how did you hear about us?”)
- Call outcomes: Booked vs. not booked (need to confirm granularity)
- Reason codes: Not systematically captured
- Quality scores: Manual QA on sample - “five calls that we reviewed” (limited scale)
- CSR performance: Limited - manual review only
- Service type: Captured (pest, HVAC, plumbing, etc.)
- Commercial vs. Residential: Likely flagged
How do you currently use call data?
- CSR training: Manual QA on small sample (not scalable)
  - Trainers listen to handful of calls
  - Give feedback person-by-person
  - “Not possible to give personalized feedback on every call” (until AI)
- QA process:
  - Call Source basic evaluation (not ABC-specific criteria)
  - “Happy vs. sad” sentiment only (not detailed)
  - Opportunity to build “ABC way” evaluation criteria
- Attribution: CSR asks, inputs response (unreliable)
- Customer insights: NOT systematically extracted - major opportunity
AI opportunity with call transcripts:
- Attribution improvement: YES - discussed as key opportunity
  - “AI can ascertain where call came from” from transcript content
  - Better than CSR asking (gets “I’ve always known about ABC”)
  - Can identify true trigger (“What made you call TODAY?”)
- Opportunity detection:
  - Upsell opportunities mentioned in calls
  - Service delivery issues flagged early
  - Cross-sell opportunities
- Sales coaching:
  - “Personalized feedback on every call for every CSR now possible”
  - Identify best practices from high-performers
  - Flag coaching opportunities at scale
- Enthusiasm: VERY OPEN - “I like that a lot” (Bobby quote)
- Current limitation: “None of us can go listen to every call” - AI solves this
- Brainforge proposal: Already in discussion - extract insights from transcripts

Data Ownership RACI

For each data domain, who is:
- Responsible (does the work)
- Accountable (final decision maker)
- Consulted (provides input)
- Informed (kept in the loop)

Data Domains:

Marketing data and attribution
Sales/conversion data
Customer data and CRM
Call center data and recordings
Financial data
Operational data (scheduling, dispatch, completion)
Website and e-commerce data
Review and reputation data

Access & Security

What’s the process for granting Brainforge access to systems?
- IT approval required?
- Security requirements?
- SSO/authentication setup?
- VPN or IP whitelisting?
Any compliance or security requirements we should know?
- PII handling policies?
- Data retention requirements?
- Audit requirements?
Who will be our primary technical contact for:
- System access and credentials?
- API documentation?
- Data questions?
- Technical troubleshooting?

Block 4: Next Steps & Meeting Planning (20 min)

Meeting Objectives

Schedule shadow meetings with key stakeholders
Create access and credentials roadmap
Align on Week 1 priorities
Confirm communication cadence

Shadow Meetings to Schedule

Who should we meet with for deep dives?

Marketing Team:

Les (CMO) - ABSOLUTE PRIORITY 🔴
- When: ASAP - Week 1 (retiring March 2026!)
- Duration: Half-day to full-day first session (Bobby suggested)
- Topics:
  - Channel strategy and history (“knows what’s worked in last 5-10 years”)
  - Vendor relationships and contracts
  - Analytics and reporting processes
  - Budget allocation rationale
  - Transition planning
- Follow-ups: Schedule 2-3 more sessions before March 2026
- Goal: “Transition from Les” - capture institutional knowledge
- Approach: “Not view this as critique” - Les is “prickly,” proud of work
Marketing support: Graphic Designer (works with Les)
- Creative processes, content workflows
Agency Partners:
- Monkey Boy - Website, Click to Buy, analytics
- Travis’s company - (relationship mentioned)
- Nextstar - Marketing partner
- Other PPC, SEO, creative agencies Les works with

Sales & Operations:

Yvette Ruiz (CSR Team Lead) - HIGH PRIORITY
- Call center operations, scripts, training
- Andi integration usage and feedback
- CSR performance and coaching needs
- 80K+ calls/month operations
Bo Jenkins (Sales/Leadership)
- Already engaged
- Sales strategy, inspector processes
- Commercial sales approach

Data & Analytics:

Les (again) - Current analytics owner
- Reports, dashboards, data sources
- What’s tracked, what’s not
Julie (IT) - Systems and data access
- Technical architecture
- System integrations
- API access and security
- Rewards program (Julie owns)

Customer Experience:

Julie - Rewards program owner
- Current rewards program details
- Enrollment, engagement, impact
Operations lead - Service delivery
- First-job quality measurement
- Customer satisfaction tracking

Finance/Operations:

David Lopez - Has KPI sheet
- Financial metrics and reporting
- Budget owners
- ROI analysis processes
Nitesh - (role to be confirmed)
Whitney - (role to be confirmed)

KEY VENDOR MEETINGS:

Call Source - Call recording/transcription platform
- Data access, API, historical transcripts
- Export capabilities
- Integration opportunities

For each meeting, what’s the ideal timing?
- Week 1 priorities: Les (#1), CSR Lead, Analytics/IT
- Week 2: Marketing execution, Customer Experience
- Week 3: Operations, Finance
- Week 4: Follow-ups and validation

Access & Credentials Roadmap

What access do we need in Week 1?

Critical Path:

Google Analytics (view access)
Call recording system (recordings + transcripts)
Primary marketing dashboards/reports
CRM system (read access)
Andi platform (admin if not already)

Week 2:

Google Ads, Meta Ads (view access)
Website analytics (full historical data)
Email marketing platform
Booking/scheduling system

Week 3-4:

Additional systems as needed based on discoveries

What’s the approval process for each?
- Who needs to approve?
- Timeline for access?
- Any blockers anticipated?

Communication & Working Cadence

How should we communicate during the 4 weeks?
- Weekly sync meeting: Day/time preference? Who attends?
- Slack/Email: Response time expectations?
- Ad-hoc questions: Best channel and person to reach?
How do you want to see progress?
- Weekly summary emails?
- Shared working doc/dashboard?
- Formal check-ins only?
Decision-making process:
- If we need a quick decision, who can authorize?
- What requires broader team input?
- Any sensitive topics to handle carefully?

Week 1 Priorities

Let’s align on Week 1 focus:

Discovery Priorities:

Les knowledge transfer session #1 (schedule ASAP)
Call data analysis kickoff (get access to transcripts)
Marketing channel performance baseline (get current data)
Website funnel analysis (GA access + booking flow data)
Customer database exploration (cancelled customers, segmentation)

Deliverables:

Complete data source inventory doc
RACI matrix first draft
Les interview #1 summary
Call data sample analysis (if transcripts available)
Week 2 meeting schedule confirmed

What would make Week 1 a success for you?
- Quick wins identified?
- Clear understanding of landscape?
- Confidence in our approach?
- Specific deliverable?
Any concerns or questions about the 4-week plan?

Resources Mentioned/Requested

Documents Requested

System Access Needed

Week 1 Priority:

Call Source - Full access to recordings, transcripts, metadata, historical data
Google Analytics - View access (Monkey Boy can facilitate)
Evolve - Read access to customer, booking, scheduling data
GreenRope - Email campaign data and customer lists
Call tracking reports - Current attribution data

Week 2:

Google Ads - View access to campaigns and performance
Meta Ads - View access to campaigns and performance
Monkey Boy analytics - Website performance, Click to Buy funnel
Sage - Financial reporting (via David/Finance)
Dream - Sales system data

Week 3-4:

Additional system access as needed based on discovery

People to Connect With

IMMEDIATE (Week 1):

Bo Jenkins (done today)
Steven (done today)
Les - Half-day to full-day knowledge transfer (ASAP before March 2026)
Yvette Ruiz - CSR operations deep dive
Julie - IT systems, rewards program
David Lopez - KPI sheet, financial metrics

Week 2:

Monkey Boy - Website, Click to Buy, analytics platform
Call Source - Vendor deep dive on capabilities
Nitesh - (role to confirm)
Whitney - (role to confirm)

Week 3-4:

Other agency partners (SEO, PPC, creative)
Operations/service delivery lead
Follow-up sessions with Les, Yvette, etc.

Action Items

ABC Team (Bo/Steven)

Brainforge (Uttam)

Joint

Weekly sync cadence - Confirm day/time with Bo/Steven (Thursdays?)
Les session preparation - Align on goals, format, deliverables
Week 1 priorities alignment - Which experiments to prioritize first
Define success metrics for 4-week discovery engagement
Communication protocol - Slack, email, who to contact for what

Meeting Notes

Block 1: Vision & Strategy

Key Quotes:

“The big frustration is that we’re only growing at 2 or 3%, and that’s not satisfactory in this market” - Bo
“The phone doesn’t ring as much as it has previously, we’ve had fewer leads, and with fewer leads, we’re not growing at the rate” - Bo
“Holy Grail for us is not to do a service for a customer. It’s to do 5, 6, and 7 services for a customer” - Bo
“I worry that in certain channels…How do I raise above endless pockets [PE competitors]?” - Bo

Strategic Priorities:

Volume problem first - More “at bats” needed before optimizing funnel
Multi-service strategy - Single service customers cancel more, lower LTV
Les transition - March 2026 deadline, institutional knowledge at risk
Attribution clarity - “Don’t really know what’s working” in marketing
Competitive positioning - PE-backed competitors with unlimited budgets

Business Model Insights:

$170M estimated annual revenue across 6 markets
80K+ calls/month (Austin-heavy)
17 services (paused adding more)
80% residential, 20% commercial (want to grow commercial bundling)
~~4% of revenue to marketing (~~$6-7M budget)
Very high retention rate (proxy for service quality)
600+ trucks as mobile billboards

Block 2: Operations & Lifecycle

Lead Generation Challenges:

Call volume declining (primary concern)
Attribution unreliable (“I’ve always known about ABC” doesn’t identify trigger)
PE competitors outspending in paid channels
Search visibility gaps for smaller/newer services
Uncertainty about ROI by channel (“spending more, getting less”)

Conversion Insights:

~70% overall conversion rate (good, but want more volume)
High conversion when inspector on doorstep
Click to Buy exists but “takes too long” - abandoned cart problem
Different flows for commercial vs. residential (not optimized separately)
Capacity question: “Do we have capacity to take on new business?”

Retention Strengths:

“Very, very high” retention rate
“Very seldom part company with bad taste” - resolve issues proactively
Multi-service customers stay longer (key insight)
Email campaigns + Lead Line program working

Untapped Opportunities:

“Gazillions of canceled customers” on good terms - unsegmented, no win-back campaigns
Customer rewards program exists but “done a lousy job making customers aware”
Leads that called but didn’t convert - sitting in database with bid history
Single-service customers - high churn risk, high upsell opportunity

Block 3: Data & Systems

Core Systems Identified:

Evolve: Scheduling, dispatch, field service, billing (critical backbone)
Sage: Accounting/finance
Dream: Sales team system
Call Source: 80K+ calls/month, recordings, transcripts (gold mine)
GreenRope: Email marketing automation
Monkey Boy: Website, Click to Buy, analytics
Andi (Brainforge): Chat, sales increasing
Front: Text messaging

Key Vendors/Partners:

Les manages: Google Ads, Meta, OTT, TV, radio, creative
Monkey Boy: Website development and analytics
Nextstar: Marketing partner
Travis’s company: (relationship unclear)

Data Gaps:

No centralized data warehouse
Limited BI/dashboards (manual Excel/Sheets by Les)
Attribution data unreliable
Bundle tracking incomplete (“started a few years back”)
Call Source evaluation basic (“happy vs. sad” only)
No systematic churn reason analysis
Rewards program metrics unknown

AI Opportunities (High Enthusiasm):

Call transcript analysis for attribution, coaching, opportunities
“Personalized feedback on every call for every CSR now possible”
Outbound win-back calls (discussed Avoca integration)
Bobby: “I like that a lot” re: AI extracting attribution from calls

Block 4: Next Steps

Week 1 Priorities (Agreed):

Les knowledge transfer session - URGENT, half to full day
Call Source data access - Transcripts, recordings, metadata
System inventory completion - Full mapping with owners
Customer journey mapping - Top services, awareness → retention
Quick win identification - 2-3 experiments to propose

Meeting Schedule:

Les: ASAP (Week 1)
Yvette (CSR): Week 1
Julie (IT): Week 1
David Lopez (KPIs): Week 1-2
Monkey Boy: Week 2
Others: Week 2-3

Communication:

Weekly sync to be scheduled (Thursdays preferred?)
System access approvals through Julie
Document sharing via email/cloud

Concerns/Sensitivities:

Les is “prickly” - approach as knowledge transfer, not critique
“Don’t want to view this as [saying Les did it wrong]”
Bo: “What’s our next step on marketing?” - structure unclear post-Les
Consideration: One person may not be able to replace Les alone

Key Questions to Answer:

“Where are the gaps?” in current marketing mix
“Which channels to cut, which to double down on?”
“What’s working vs. not working?” - need data-driven answer
“How to compete with PE unlimited budgets?” - efficiency play
“What are the 2-3 highest ROI growth opportunities?”

Post-Meeting Tasks

Send meeting summary email (within 24 hours)
Create data source inventory spreadsheet
Draft RACI matrix based on ownership discussion
Schedule Les knowledge transfer session #1
Request priority system access (GA, calls, CRM)
Schedule shadow meetings for Week 1-2
Create Week 1 working plan
Set up shared workspace for collaboration (Google Drive folder, Slack channel, etc.)

Key Questions to Answer by End of Meeting

Vision: What does success look like for ABC in 2026-2027?
- Answer: Break through 2-3% growth plateau. Get “more at bats” (lead volume). Multi-service customers (5-7 services) vs. single service. Compete effectively against PE-backed competitors despite budget constraints. Successful transition from Les with captured institutional knowledge.
Pain: What’s the #1 growth bottleneck today?
- Answer: Lead volume decline - “Phone doesn’t ring as much as it has previously.” Secondary: Attribution blindness (“don’t know what’s working” in marketing channels) prevents confident optimization.
Data: Where does our most valuable data live?
- Answer:
  1. Call Source - 80K+ calls/month with transcripts (attribution, coaching, opportunities)
  2. Evolve - Customer, booking, service history (LTV, bundles, churn)
  3. Canceled customer database - “Gazillions” on good terms (win-back gold mine)
  4. GreenRope - Email campaign performance, customer engagement
  5. Monkey Boy/GA - Website behavior, abandoned cart, conversion funnel
People: Who are the critical stakeholders we need to interview?
- Answer:
  - URGENT: Les (retiring March 2026) - half to full day sessions
  - Week 1: Yvette (CSR), Julie (IT/rewards), David Lopez (KPIs)
  - Week 2: Monkey Boy, Call Source (vendors), Nitesh, Whitney
  - Week 3+: Other agencies, operations leads, follow-ups
Access: What’s the timeline to get system access?
- Answer: Week 1 priorities: Call Source, Google Analytics, Evolve (read access), GreenRope. Julie coordinates approvals. No major security blockers mentioned. Move fast given Les timeline.
Les: How much time can we get with Les in the next 4 weeks?
- Answer: Half-day to full-day initial session (ASAP Week 1). Schedule 2-3 follow-up sessions before March 2026 retirement. Les knows “what’s worked in last 5-10 years” - critical knowledge capture. Approach sensitively (Les is “prickly,” proud of work).
Quick Wins: What’s the fastest way we can add value?
- Answer:
  1. Attribution clarity - AI analysis of Call Source transcripts (high enthusiasm: “I like that a lot”)
  2. Abandoned cart optimization - Click to Buy “takes too long,” data exists
  3. Win-back campaign - “Gazillions” of canceled customers on good terms, never systematically done
  4. Rewards program awareness - Exists but “done a lousy job making customers aware”
  5. Channel ROI analysis - “Don’t know what’s working” - identify what to cut vs. double down

Last Updated: December 2, 2025

Brainforge Knowledge

Explorer

2025-12-02_bo_steven_discovery_kickoff

Meeting Agenda: ABC Home - Discovery Kickoff

Meeting Overview

Meeting Flow (4 hours)

Block 1: Vision & Strategic Context (60 min)

Meeting Objectives

Questions

Company Vision & Strategy

Current Business Challenges

Organizational Context

Block 2: Business Operations & Customer Lifecycle (90 min)

Meeting Objectives

Demos/Walkthroughs Requested

Questions

Awareness & Lead Generation

Conversion & Booking

Service Delivery & First Impression

Retention & Customer Lifecycle

Resurrection & Win-Back

Block 3: Data Sources, Systems & Ownership (60 min)

Meeting Objectives

Questions

Systems Inventory

Data Flows & Reporting

Call Data & Transcripts (Critical for ABC)

Data Ownership RACI

Access & Security

Block 4: Next Steps & Meeting Planning (20 min)

Meeting Objectives

Shadow Meetings to Schedule

Access & Credentials Roadmap

Communication & Working Cadence

Week 1 Priorities

Resources Mentioned/Requested

Documents Requested

System Access Needed

People to Connect With

Action Items

ABC Team (Bo/Steven)

Brainforge (Uttam)

Joint

Meeting Notes

Block 1: Vision & Strategy

Block 2: Operations & Lifecycle

Block 3: Data & Systems

Block 4: Next Steps

Post-Meeting Tasks

Key Questions to Answer by End of Meeting

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